Gas breakdown at microscale dimensions has been of great interest to the
microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and plasma communities for nearly 15 years as …

Paschen's law (PL), derived based on the Townsend avalanche (TA) condition, is commonly
used to predict gas breakdown. For microscale gaps near atmospheric pressure, TA is …

A practical, in-depth description of the physics behind electron emission physics and its
usage in science and technology Electron emission is both a fundamental phenomenon and …

This Perspective outlines theoretical, simulation, and experimental studies linking electron
emission and gas breakdown. Many studies have investigated field emission-driven …

While well established for larger gaps, Paschen's law (PL) fails to accurately predict
breakdown for microscale gaps, where field emission becomes important. This deviation …

Electronics miniaturization motivates gas breakdown predictions for microscale and smaller
gaps, since traditional breakdown theory fails when gap size, d, is smaller than∼ 15 μm at …

The individual contributions of various gas discharge mechanisms to total pre-breakdown
current in microgaps are quantified numerically. The variation of contributions of field …

In recent studies, it has been shown that cold field emission can be an important electron
source in microscale discharges. However, if the cathode is heated to a high temperature …

We report an ultrafast oscillation (up to∼ 104 GHz) in the early stage of field emission-driven
microdischarges. Spatiotemporal behaviors of electron density, space charge density, and …

This paper evaluates the transitions between the breakdown modes that are dominated by
field emission (FE) and by secondary electron emission (SEE) in argon microgaps, based on …